Flight of the Eagle
by EagleStrike1
Summary: Chloe Carter finds herself amazed by the mysterious assassin who saved her life. Now she must learn to survive in the midst of an age-old war that has lasted through centuries.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Eagle reckon 1

Date-2011/9/18

Time-9:48 PM

Damascus, Syria

The rebels were having a party; the small girl huddled up in the corner could hear the distant cheers and the occasional burst of gunfire exploding in the camp. Every time someone shouted or made a loud noise, she would start getting nervous. The chain of the tent zipped open and a head peered in, finally making out the girl's shape in the dark, he said in broken English,

'Zafar wants to see you, follow me and keep pace'

The girl stumbled over a pile of wood on the floor as she followed the man. Zafar Ul Hak was the man leading the rebels in the Syrian city of Damascus. He was a man of big appetite. He was nicknamed 'The Mole' by Interpol, a name derived from his records on child molestations. Zafar had seen the little girl earlier from head to toe and whispered something that from what little the girl knew of Arabic, sounded a lot like 'She'll do for tonight'.

The little girl found herself face to face with 11 drunken rebels.

'You there, girl, come closer to the fire and take off your clothes' Zafar said in surprisingly good English.

The little girl knew enough about women being raped and killed in the rebel camps to understand what was about to happen to her. _Well if I am to die tonight, I won't let them use me as their toy, _she thought resolutely.

'Didn't you hear what I said? Take off your clothes, now!' Zafar shouted as his men fell silent in anticipation.

The girl did not move, she stayed there, standing with her head high and her eyes closed. Zafar stood up and marched over to her with his knife raised, the girl braced for impact but it none came. Instead came a gunshot that echoed around the empty camp.

Something warm and sticky sprayed across her face. She opened her eyes just in time to see Zafar fall to the ground, his cold brown eyes wide with shock, blood spurting out of his forehead, clearly dead. The rebels stood up hastily to reach out for weapons. Only there were none. They had locked up the weapons in the armory some 50 yards away from them. Four more bullets whizzed over, getting four rebels neatly on their heads. Six more rebels remained now. Terrified to take a step, they drew out knives and swords rapidly from their sheaths and held it up, looking around in all directions. Perhaps they would have noticed something if they had looked up at the roofs of the ruined huts around them, but they didn't. From the top of one of the roofs, a hooded guy leaped. His wrists flicked identically in midair as something shiny slithered out of his hands. He landed neatly on the floor as he brought two rebels down along with him, blood spurting out of their necks as he stood up. Even before the remaining four could react, he had drawn out two Revolvers strapped around his thighs. With deadly accuracy, he fired four times. As four rebels fell to the floor, he turned around to look at the little girl. Marching straight up to her, he asked her in a calm and soothing voice,

'Are you Chloe Carter?'

Chloe looked at him in a puzzled expression and nodded.

He nodded too and knelt down to look at Zafar's dead body. He looked at the necklace on Zafar's neck with interest and muttered;

'Bloody Templar'

Chloe was puzzled as the necklace held the symbol of Abstergo industries, certainly not whatever a Bloody Templar was. She would have asked him what it meant if she hadn't been too dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events. Already other rebels were shouting somewhere near, obviously the gunshots had been heard.

The guy stood up and pressing his left ear he said,

'Command this is **Eagle Reckon 1**, I found the girl and I'm bringing her to the bird. Over '

'**Eagle Reckon 1, **you are cleared to perform evacuation. Over'

He was talking in a radio. He looked at Chloe and said,

'We need to go Chloe, there are a lot of things I need to tell you about, but we need to get to safety first. A chopper is waiting for us not far from here, follow me.'

Chloe looked at the guy's wrist. He was wearing a brace on his arm that had the symbol she had seen on her father's diary. She looked back at the guy and nodded and followed him through the cold, dark night that had raised more questions and doubts than settled her anxieties and conscience.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-Inside the Manor

Date-2011/9/21

Time-7:48 P.M

Caucasus Mountains, Russia

Chloe had been inside a helicopter before. Only flying in a Cobra war Helicopter was not something she expected to experience in her lifetime. Now, she was some 11000 foot from ground and she could see the distant fields and valleys from above. She turned her attention back to the strange group of people inside the chopper. They were all heavily armed and most of them were hooded, some weren't.

'So, are you special operatives or something?' she asked in a small and nervous voice.

The people around her murmured among each other but did not utter a word. _Well, that was rude._ She sat quietly in the corner, trying her best not to catch anyone's eye. About fifteen minutes later, the speaker on her side crackled and announced landing in 8 minutes.

She was the last to leave the chopper. She looked at her surroundings. All she could see were vehicles. There were military, non-military and vehicles with private plates. She strode up to the girl infront of her and asked,

'Um… Excuse me, um….where exactly are we?'

'Sorry, I have strict orders not to tell you anything. Don't worry though, you'll get a briefing soon enough. But right now, we need to take you to a doctor', she said looking at the cuts across her cheeks and arms.

She nodded quietly and followed the girl as she led her across a neatly cut hedge. Two massive gates covered by willow plants blocked the path in front of her. The girl stepped up to the telecom and muttered something. As the gates opened slowly, the girl in front of her took her hands and led her inside a huge manor. The manor, very much like the gates was covered by willow plants that were wrapped all over the wall.

The large door in the front opened as an old man came out. He must've been in his late fifties. His hair was white with shades of black and so was his beard. He walked up to her in graceful steps and said gently,

'Hello, Miss Carter. I am William Miles. Call me Bill, though. I am guessing you have many questions. However, this is not the time. You need to consult a doctor, eat and have some sleep. Nikanor will take you to the doctor and see to your needs. Please don't hesitate to ask for anything you need.'

'Ok, I **need** some information on whatever is going on here.'

William looked at her, dumbfounded and amused. He smiled at her warmly and said,

'Look I know that you are curious about….well everything. But you were in grave danger last night, that's why I sent Sirius to get you away from the rebels. Things are happening just as I dreaded. Now, we must see what can be done with you. As I said, you will understand everything tomorrow morning. Just go, take some rest now.'

And with that he left.

Chloe awoke next morning feeling sore and stiff. Her wounds were healing beautifully and her body felt stronger already. The night's sleep had done her good. She stood up from the luxurious bed and peeked outside the window of her room. It was lovely room, she must've had missed it because of the drugs the doctor had given her to dull the pain. The view outside the window was lovely. A mountain range was very close to the manor and she could make out a path leading up to the snow covered hills into a snow covered forest. Inside the compound, people were moving. About 7 people were holding bows in their hands, shooting arrows at dummies placed strategically. Others were practicing shooting with paintballs in a closed compound. A man was shouting in a loud voice, instructing the others, teaching them to use weapons of all sorts, from heavy swords, to crossbows and guns, spears and knives and so on. Chloe was puzzled by this sort of scenario. She would get answers though. And with that relieving thought, she took a shower. The closet was filled with all sorts of clothes. Bathing robes, night gowns, shirts, sweaters, jeans even underclothes. She quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. On top of that she put on a sweater and trainers. With that she left her room and went down the stairway. The hall that had been so empty and desolate last night was teeming with life now; people were bustling about, toasts and tea in their hands. Some were filing paper works, some were talking in phones and some were watching an enormous television. A small boy ran up to her and handed her a note. She took it. It read:

_Find me in my office. It's the one with the eagle in the doorway._

The door had a heavy brass knocker on it. She knocked twice and Bill spoke from inside,

'Come on in, it's open.'

His office was large and spacious. A big desk was at the far end corner. On the walls were cupboards full of documents each labeled neatly. William gestured her to take a seat and she did. For several minutes neither one of them spoke. William was tying typing something on his MacBook. Finally, he shut off the lid and looked at her.

'So, I hope you slept well! I was worried you would be weak and exhausted but, you obviously are fine. I promised you that I would explain everything to you. Where would you like to begin?' he said looking at her inquiringly.

Chloe looked at him, then at the board that was hanging on the wall. She pointed at the symbol on the middle of it and said,

'I've seen that symbol before, on-on my father's diary. What is it?'

'That, Miss Carter is the insignia of the Order of the Assassins. I'm guessing you have heard of them?' he said in a serious tone.

'Of course I've heard of them, who hasn't? I mean it makes up almost half of the history classes I take in school. Not to mention boys are obsessed with it, the whole monkey jumping and killing for righteous stuff and all.'

'Well, I guess then that you know you are currently in an Assassin compound. I sent an Assassin, one of my very best to rescue you from the rebel camp. It was necessary that we got you out as quickly as possible, circumstances demanded it.'

Chloe weighed in William's words as Goosebumps erupted over her body. Realization swept inside of her and everything made clearer sense. Her father's "history" lectures all over the world, the assassin on the camp muttering "Bloody Templar", her father's final words to her to keep his diary safe without reading it and everything that had happened since.

'My dad, he-he was an um…. an Assassin, wasn't he?' she asked William, terrified by the magnitude of the words.

William simply nodded. Chloe could feel hot tears coming out of her eyes as understanding dawned on her. She stood up, walked to the door and opened it. The moment it closed, she ran all the way to her room, crying all the time, pain and grief and misery clouding her emotions.

Late in the afternoon, she emerged out of the room. A tall guy was waiting for her outside her room. He looked at her with grey eyes that went perfectly with his face. His hair was light coppery brown with shades of faint, crispy blonde at the tip. His jaw was strong and perfectly shaped, his chin was strong and his nose was straight, not too long, and not too short. His lips were thin and there was a hint of beard growing in his chin. He was a lot like William, except way younger, and very good looking. He looked at her with concern and said,

'Hello Chloe, I am Sirius-

'The guy in the camp yesterday right? You-

'Let me finish first', he said with irritation and annoyance. As expected, he was arrogant and did not like being interrupted.

'Right, sorry!'

He nodded and began,

'Right, so you need training, we'll see if you are any good at operating in field. If you are not, you can join communication and stabilization department. It's good too, but slightly boring .Of course, the decisions are yours to make, though', he said getting to the point without any delay.

'I need to train? As in like you and all those creepy stuffs assassins do? I really don't know if I can, I mean I'm not very good you know.' she said quietly, dreading what might come next.

'Like I said the decision is yours; I mean if you don't want this, William can create everything you need to start a new life. Passports, visas, alternate citizenships, a good job with lots of pay and cash to get you started. Within a few hours, you will be a million miles apart from all this, starting new and fresh. We can manage that, I mean we are very resourceful you know.' he said looking at her.

Chloe could feel the importance of this decision. She counted the stakes, she had no family, her parents were dead, her family was scattered and she couldn't see a future.

'Did you know my father?' she asked him.

He looked at her for a long time and nodded.

'He wanted you to join, you know, he told me that he did. He made me promise that if anything would happen to him, I would keep you safe. That's what I did. Now it's up to you, I personally think it would be best if you joined, you start as a recruit, as a novice, go out on smaller missions, learn things and when the time is right, you will be one of us- maybe'.

The way he said "maybe" was unsettling.

'What do you mean "maybe"? What about all these people here, they are Assassins, why can't I be one?' she demanded.

He snorted and said,

'There are less than 300 Assassins all over the world; me and William are the only ones in this branch of the order. The rest are just operatives. We are Assassins because we made a choice, did something that inducted us inside the _Liberalis Circulus, _The circle of liberals. A choice your dad made too.'

'What do you mean by a choice? You have to do something special to be an actual Assassin or something?' Chloe asked in fear of his answer.

He looked at her as his face darkened and said,

'Yes, you become an Assassin when you do something most people hesitate to do, you….uh… You take a life.' He finished quietly.

The last thing Chloe Carter could believe was that her father had taken a life. She wanted to cry and scream, say that her father wasn't a murderer. But she knew, she understood what had to be done. The decision she made would change her life. She looked at Sirius, dead in the eye and said,

'I will train'

Sirius looked at her with pride, knowing that she had to be trained quickly, too much was at stake and time was short.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3-Understanding the Eagle

Date-2011/10/11

Time-8:42 A.M

Caucasus Mountains, Russia

After just 3 weeks of training, Chloe felt like she could conquer the world. Her body was getting stronger, her reflexes were faster and her senses were sharper and more accurate. Every day, she would wake up at 5'o clock in the morning and liven up. After a heavy breakfast she would attend a small study group. Here, Assassins in training studied under Bruneski, an extremely genius person with a talent in weapon crafting. Bruneski wasn't your average teacher; he specialized in Mortuary science and human anatomy. He could kill a person by pressing a couple of nerves on his body, he knew what angle a knife had to be held in while slicing through human flesh, he knew how a bow and arrow had to be held and knew how to be in a crowd and not be in it. Everyone got the basic gist of combat from him. The practical knowledge was given by Mulberry and Brock. Mulberry and Brock were highly accomplished Assassins themselves. They would pair the novices among each other and made them to fight using wooden swords, paint pellets in guns and so on. In 3 weeks, Chloe Carter, the girl who couldn't hurt a fly, had become physically capable of overpowering 3 full grown men without moving so much as an inch. She loved her new self, the confidence in her and the ability to handle herself.

Sirius looked to his left, then his right. _Better safe than sorry_. The road was pretty empty, a couple of drug dealers were hanging around, talking to the last customers, some prostitutes were walking around topless, attempting to get a few customers before leaving. Paris had, and always would be, the city of love. The brightly illuminated streets gave an aura of romance in the air. It was a tourist hotspot, especially for couples. Kreig Stallins and his wife were currently in Paris, his source had told him. William's instructions had been clear enough; _Find the source of his supplies and leave. No deaths, maximum stealth. _The fact that military grade weapons like M4s, MP5s and JAVELINs were being used by Syrian rebels had stirred interest in William. He believed that the Assassins might be able to get hands on military weapons from this source, whoever it was.

Right now, Sirius was headed to the Eifel Tower. Krieg and his wife were enjoying a romantic dinner in there. He stopped at the pavement in front of the massive landscape. He guessed there would be Abstergo agents roaming around the tower, keeping a suspicious eye on everybody. He would have to sneak in while in his normal attire, letting anyone see him even in a hood was dangerous and risky. Sirius however had an unfair advantage in these scenarios. He had a rare and helpful sixth sense, referred to as **Eagle Vision**, an ability he had gained through genetics. Most of his ancestors had this vision. It was always useful, especially for an assassin who spent half of his time sneaking all over. He stopped short under a tree. With cat like grace, he began climbing with ease. Setting himself in a sturdy branch, he stood still, concentrating his mind to activate eagle vision. At once, shades of blue covered all around his eyes. He could see shiny white outlines of human bodies- civilians. White always meant civilians or neutral people. People outlined in blue were his allies, friends and families. Yellow outlines were his targets, a person he was supposed to tail, locate or talk to and red meant his enemies, usually Templars, sometimes thieves or goons, people who meant harm. Right now he could see slight traces of white and three distinct traces of red. Two were in the opposite side of the tower and one was near the pavement. All of them were in normal attire. _As if they could fool with that. _He smirked to himself. The guy that was alone kept on turning back and forth, looking at people with interest. Sirius had to get to the elevator without being spotted. He dropped down to the ground, picked up a stone and threw it at a hoarding board at the opposite street. The sound of the stone hitting metal alerted the guard on the pavement. He stood up slowly and took a gun out of his back holster. Silently, he walked up to the building to an adjoining staircase. Sirius grinned to himself on seeing the guard take the bait. Of course, it did make sense. If an Assassin would be hiding, it would be on the roof. He sprinted all the way to the elevator and pressed the button to the restaurant. With Eagle vision on, he came out of the elevator. Krieg and his wife were having dinner; Krieg in a bright red outline and his wife in white with slight outlines of red. Another red outline was on the opposite end of the hall, Krieg's head of security. He looked straight at the guy. Catching his eye through his hood, he turned around and left the room. As expected, the guard followed, suspicious of his hood. Sirius led him into a deserted stairway on the tower.

The guard looked around him and saw nothing. From somewhere above him someone jumped, bringing his body down the floor. Both of them slid down the stairs. The hooded guy stood first. The guard took his radio out of his pocket, meaning to signal the others and Krieg, but a second later, the hooded guy kicked his hand, the radio slid away and fell to the ground way below. Sirius kicked again, this time in the face. Blood spurted out of the guard's nose as he howled in pain. Sirius bent on his knees and flicked his wrist. Out slithered a shiny, long, blade, only this one was blunt. He rammed it on the man's neck. High charges of electricity flowed through the guard's body. Instantly, he was knocked out. In 40 minutes, the guard would come back to consciousness. Sirius worked quickly. He stripped off the guards outer clothing and put it on. The weapon supplier's call was recent. Sirius put on a glass and walked up to Krieg inside the room. He bent over and whispered,

'Sir, the next stock of weapons are ready to be transported, confirm time and location to the supplier.' With that he put the phone on Krieg's ear. Krieg said,

'Chernobyl, 3'oclock'. The supplier heard the location and time clearly. His men began packing. Sirius stood straight and left the room. 30 seconds later, Eagle Reckon 1 was nowhere to be seen.

The Templar guards were waiting in Chernobyl. 4 massive trucks came in through a gate. In less than 40 minutes, the weapons were tested, and stored inside the Abstergo vehicles. The guards were ready to leave. The suppliers were checking to see if the coast was clear. He radioed to one of his man. _Static_. He radioed to another one. _Static_. The Abstergo vehicles were halfway through the gates. No one saw a hooded figure leap from a roof and land neatly on top of the supplier. Within seconds, it was as if no one had ever been there.

Chloe looked at the gate as a silver Volvo entered. Sirius walked out of it.

'Heard the weapon supplier is here? Is he? He asked her.

'Yeah, William's waiting for you downstairs, says he wants to interrogate along with you.'

Sirius nodded and looked at her.

'I heard you knocked out 4 guards in total stealth. That's impressive.'

'Thanks, I've been training for a while now, I –

'I was thinking that you should train with me, every night at 7:00 down by the Boga pass, there's a small bridge, come find me there.'

And without so much as a second glance, he left. Chloe wanted to shout, the fact that she was going to train with him brought anticipation and excitement in her. She knew every girl in the manor would be jealous. Smiling to herself, she went inside, proud of the fact that she had chosen to stay and fight.


End file.
